WEBVTT 00:00:05.870 --> 00:00:08.910 Welcome to another episode of the Interfaith 00:00:08.910 --> 00:00:12.730 Podcast. I'm your host, Professor Iqbal Akhtar 00:00:12.730 --> 00:00:16.890 here at FIU, and we're very honored today to 00:00:16.890 --> 00:00:20.489 have Jenny Pearson to talk to us. She's from 00:00:20.489 --> 00:00:22.969 the Jewish Federation here in Miami, and we're 00:00:22.969 --> 00:00:26.109 going to kind of go a little bit into her background, 00:00:26.250 --> 00:00:29.570 her experience, and the work that she's doing 00:00:29.570 --> 00:00:32.829 for Federation. Welcome, Jenny. Thank you. Thank 00:00:32.829 --> 00:00:35.609 you for coming. Talk to us a little bit about 00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:47.909 your life. Who are you? So, wow. So, professionally? 00:00:49.090 --> 00:00:52.090 Life. Like, start off from, you know, who are 00:00:52.090 --> 00:00:54.649 you personally? And then we can get into professionally. 00:00:54.850 --> 00:00:56.530 Talk a little bit maybe about your childhood. 00:00:56.670 --> 00:00:58.149 Okay. What are some of the things that shaped 00:00:58.149 --> 00:01:01.719 who you are as a person? OK, so I grew up in 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:05.500 New York and but I spent part of every year here 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:09.040 in Florida. My family had a lot of family here. 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:11.599 And so we would be here for like every summer 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.359 and every school break and everything. And my 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:16.079 father, you know, my father eventually had a 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:19.079 part of his company here and everything. So Florida 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:22.260 is a big part of my life, even though I grew 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:25.519 up in New York City. But I grew up with parents 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:29.590 who were very active in their community. They 00:01:29.590 --> 00:01:32.049 both were community leaders in different ways, 00:01:32.129 --> 00:01:36.730 either as part of boards or presidents of organizations, 00:01:36.930 --> 00:01:39.409 from everything from the neighborhood association 00:01:39.409 --> 00:01:45.670 to the local hospital to a Jewish school for 00:01:45.670 --> 00:01:48.530 kids with special needs. My dad was a big part 00:01:48.530 --> 00:01:55.750 of that growing up. And our synagogue. So being 00:01:55.750 --> 00:01:58.489 Jewish was a big part of my childhood. We were 00:01:58.489 --> 00:02:02.730 a observant reform home. So what that means is 00:02:02.730 --> 00:02:05.430 even though my mother grew up traditional and 00:02:05.430 --> 00:02:12.210 my father grew up in the sort of worker circle, 00:02:12.449 --> 00:02:20.330 which is the sort of. socialist kind of like 00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:24.849 eastern european jewishness um he became more 00:02:24.849 --> 00:02:30.030 actively uh religiously active when he became 00:02:30.030 --> 00:02:32.229 part when he met my mom and when he married my 00:02:32.229 --> 00:02:35.849 mom and um so we celebrated every holiday we 00:02:35.849 --> 00:02:40.979 marked shabbat we um uh We were very Jewish, 00:02:41.060 --> 00:02:44.939 actually, in a neighborhood that was not Jewish 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:47.800 in Brooklyn. It's hard to imagine that when you 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:49.379 think of Brooklyn, you think of like Jewish. 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:51.719 But we lived in a part of Brooklyn that was like 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:55.259 people from the Mayflower. OK, so. Yeah. So it 00:02:55.259 --> 00:02:59.639 was really weird. And I always was kind of like. 00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:03.620 Feeling like an outcast as a Jew, not as anything 00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:07.919 else, not not intellectually, not not socially 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:12.060 so much, but. I definitely felt like my family 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:15.099 was different. There were big cultural differences 00:03:15.099 --> 00:03:19.860 that I felt. And then, of course, in Florida, 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:23.580 we were on the Gulf Coast, which is also less 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:28.979 Jewish than this coast. And so it also was sort 00:03:28.979 --> 00:03:34.250 of like being an outcast to be Jewish. So as 00:03:34.250 --> 00:03:37.949 I grew up, I did decide that I was more interested 00:03:37.949 --> 00:03:40.909 in making a life in Florida than New York City. 00:03:41.270 --> 00:03:45.229 I grew up active in the arts. I went into the 00:03:45.229 --> 00:03:47.669 arts professionally as an adult, and I thought 00:03:47.669 --> 00:03:50.069 it would be a more interesting challenge to be 00:03:50.069 --> 00:03:55.110 in Florida, which was at the time a growing cultural 00:03:55.110 --> 00:03:57.349 community. I mean, it's still growing, but... 00:03:58.610 --> 00:04:01.229 It wasn't like New York City, which is like you 00:04:01.229 --> 00:04:03.210 would really be a really small fish in a really, 00:04:03.270 --> 00:04:06.270 really big sea in terms of the arts. And so I 00:04:06.270 --> 00:04:07.729 thought it'd be a much more interesting challenge 00:04:07.729 --> 00:04:11.009 to be in a place where culture is sort of less 00:04:11.009 --> 00:04:15.590 present and less understood. And so I worked 00:04:15.590 --> 00:04:18.269 in the arts from the beginning of my career. 00:04:18.930 --> 00:04:25.670 And I was working in the arts in the in in in. 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:31.300 in a field that centers on community engaged 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:35.399 practice. So artists and organizations that do 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:40.360 arts for social change. So very early on, I was 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:43.839 introduced to the values of community -based 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:47.339 work and community responsive work and community 00:04:47.339 --> 00:04:53.589 values and social change values. social justice 00:04:53.589 --> 00:04:59.569 values. So I've done that in my career at all 00:04:59.569 --> 00:05:02.529 different kinds of organizations, from very small 00:05:02.529 --> 00:05:05.009 grassroots organizations to very large major 00:05:05.009 --> 00:05:08.610 institutions like the Florida Philharmonic, which 00:05:08.610 --> 00:05:11.389 doesn't exist anymore, and the Adrian Arsht Center, 00:05:11.589 --> 00:05:13.709 where I was the director of community engagement. 00:05:13.810 --> 00:05:19.790 So my work sort of became Because there was so 00:05:19.790 --> 00:05:22.610 much of it was about building that bridge between 00:05:22.610 --> 00:05:26.970 the arts and community. I focused a lot on community 00:05:26.970 --> 00:05:31.389 engagement. There was about 10 or 15 years that 00:05:31.389 --> 00:05:34.430 I was specifically focused on the community that 00:05:34.430 --> 00:05:36.790 I was focused on in my community engagement was 00:05:36.790 --> 00:05:39.250 the Jewish community. So I was really interested 00:05:39.250 --> 00:05:43.029 in arts programs that and I produced arts programs 00:05:43.029 --> 00:05:49.569 that were about pushing. the edges and redefining 00:05:49.569 --> 00:05:52.490 or helping people get beyond stereotypes about 00:05:52.490 --> 00:05:59.259 what Jewish culture is and also doing. breaking 00:05:59.259 --> 00:06:01.339 the boundaries of what Jewish culture is. Can 00:06:01.339 --> 00:06:05.620 you give us an example? So, yes. So one of the 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:08.160 things I did was I took a traditional Passover 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:12.139 Seder and I worked with a group of artists and 00:06:12.139 --> 00:06:15.519 I assigned them all, well, they chose self -selected 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:21.540 different parts of the Seder that they felt a 00:06:21.540 --> 00:06:24.860 particular connection to and they interpreted. 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:29.959 that part of the Seder through their artistic 00:06:29.959 --> 00:06:32.180 practice, whether they were performing artists 00:06:32.180 --> 00:06:36.879 or visual artists. So we had poetry, we had film, 00:06:36.939 --> 00:06:41.480 we had sculpture, we had painting, all that each 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:43.800 piece represented a different part of the Passover 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.560 Seder. Should I explain Passover Seder a little 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.100 bit more? Probably, yeah. So a Passover Seder 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:54.980 is, Seder means order in Hebrew, and a Passover 00:06:54.980 --> 00:07:00.870 Seder Seder is the home service that we have 00:07:00.870 --> 00:07:03.949 during Passover, which is an important Jewish 00:07:03.949 --> 00:07:06.089 holiday in the spring that's around when Easter 00:07:06.089 --> 00:07:10.410 is. And it reminds us of the story of Exodus. 00:07:10.589 --> 00:07:14.329 It's all about the story of Exodus. And it has 00:07:14.329 --> 00:07:18.310 a prayer book called the Haggadah that takes 00:07:18.310 --> 00:07:20.949 you through the story and takes you through remembering 00:07:20.949 --> 00:07:23.430 that we were slaves in Egypt. And that is really 00:07:23.430 --> 00:07:30.199 important to the work. I do now. So a really, 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:32.839 really significant value is remembering always 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:38.279 that we were slaves in Egypt and we were the 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:41.300 strangers. And so it's always really important 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:48.720 that we take care of anyone who is enslaved, 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:53.480 anyone who is oppressed, anyone who is othered 00:07:53.480 --> 00:08:00.240 or marginalized. That's a really, really important 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:06.819 Jewish value. And as is welcoming the stranger. 00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:11.300 So it's very much about... building bridges. 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:14.600 It's very much about that. So that's what a Passover 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:16.500 Seder is. It has all these different parts. It 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:19.620 has something called a Seder plate, which has 00:08:19.620 --> 00:08:24.920 different symbols. So like, you know, one symbol 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:30.180 reflects our tears. One symbol reflects the mortar 00:08:30.180 --> 00:08:34.289 that we used between bricks when we... when we 00:08:34.289 --> 00:08:36.710 were slaves and we had to build buildings for 00:08:36.710 --> 00:08:40.769 the Pharaoh. And so we took the Seder plate. 00:08:41.009 --> 00:08:42.970 People took things on the Seder plate, but they 00:08:42.970 --> 00:08:48.789 also took different prayer sections. Like, for 00:08:48.789 --> 00:08:51.570 example, there's the four questions, which is 00:08:51.570 --> 00:08:55.450 when the youngest person at the table asks. Oh, 00:08:55.529 --> 00:08:57.169 and Passover Seders happen around the table. 00:08:57.309 --> 00:09:00.620 I should have said that. And in the four questions, 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:03.000 the youngest person asks all of these questions 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.340 most significantly. Why is this night different 00:09:05.340 --> 00:09:08.500 from all other nights? Which always reminds us 00:09:08.500 --> 00:09:14.279 in everything we do to to really look at the 00:09:14.279 --> 00:09:21.539 uniqueness of every situation and and what we're 00:09:21.539 --> 00:09:24.120 trying to remember by it, that we're that we 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:29.990 are keeping it unique and holy. And there's another 00:09:29.990 --> 00:09:33.129 part. So somebody did the four questions as their 00:09:33.129 --> 00:09:36.230 theme. And there's also there's a lot of themes 00:09:36.230 --> 00:09:38.370 of four. There's four cups of wine traditionally. 00:09:39.190 --> 00:09:42.429 And there's four children, which traditionally 00:09:42.429 --> 00:09:45.750 is four sons. But having grown up in a progressive 00:09:45.750 --> 00:09:48.509 Jewish movement, we're egalitarian. So we call 00:09:48.509 --> 00:09:51.710 it we do it as children. And so like one is one 00:09:51.710 --> 00:09:53.549 doesn't know how to ask and one doesn't know 00:09:53.549 --> 00:09:58.860 how to, you know. get themselves out of a situation. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:03.620 And, you know, and it's really interesting to 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:05.980 look at all of these different ways of being 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:09.759 human. And we can find ourselves in all four, 00:10:09.820 --> 00:10:15.259 all four. My husband did a reinterpretation of 00:10:15.259 --> 00:10:19.080 it that we use in our Seder, which is for intelligences. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:25.340 So we focus on that. So that was an example of 00:10:25.340 --> 00:10:29.710 an art project where artists... took a Jewish 00:10:29.710 --> 00:10:33.529 tradition and turned it into their artistic practice. 00:10:33.649 --> 00:10:37.330 So it was extremely obviously very contemporary 00:10:37.330 --> 00:10:39.769 because it was live living art that was made 00:10:39.769 --> 00:10:43.769 in the moment. And I liked to think of the Jewish 00:10:43.769 --> 00:10:46.610 culture that I produced as being beyond Fiddler 00:10:46.610 --> 00:10:48.970 on the Roof. I always used to say it's beyond 00:10:48.970 --> 00:10:50.909 Fiddler on the Roof because so often when people 00:10:50.909 --> 00:10:53.129 think about what is Jewish culture, they think 00:10:53.129 --> 00:10:59.059 of Fiddler on the Roof. Being Jewish is so much 00:10:59.059 --> 00:11:02.919 more than Fiddler on the Roof. One of the main 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:06.019 things is that Fiddler on the Roof talks about 00:11:06.019 --> 00:11:09.440 one community of Jews in a certain part of the 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:12.940 world. And in fact, the diaspora, the Jewish 00:11:12.940 --> 00:11:16.519 diaspora has taken us all over the world. And 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:20.590 there's Jews in every continent. almost every 00:11:20.590 --> 00:11:24.549 country and people practice in so many different 00:11:24.549 --> 00:11:26.309 ways and there's so many different traditions 00:11:26.309 --> 00:11:29.769 and foods and different kinds of music which 00:11:29.769 --> 00:11:32.730 was another thing that I did is I created a music 00:11:32.730 --> 00:11:36.750 festival called the Guava Ragalach. music festival. 00:11:36.889 --> 00:11:43.690 So ragalach is a little pastry that's common 00:11:43.690 --> 00:11:48.710 in Eastern European Jewish communities. And I 00:11:48.710 --> 00:11:53.259 walked into a store. and um a kosher market here 00:11:53.259 --> 00:11:55.539 in miami and i saw a package that said guava 00:11:55.539 --> 00:11:58.419 rug and i was like only in miami like only in 00:11:58.419 --> 00:12:01.059 miami would they take a tropical fruit and make 00:12:01.059 --> 00:12:04.960 an eastern european pastry out of it and um that 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:06.940 was when i got the idea for the name of the festival 00:12:06.940 --> 00:12:09.139 but i was already working on this unnamed music 00:12:09.139 --> 00:12:12.100 festival that was about bringing together all 00:12:12.100 --> 00:12:17.009 the different um kinds of music that comes from 00:12:17.009 --> 00:12:18.490 all the different kinds of Jewish communities 00:12:18.490 --> 00:12:21.889 that exist in Miami. So that festival happened 00:12:21.889 --> 00:12:26.610 about three or four times. And that was really 00:12:26.610 --> 00:12:31.009 fun. And then we also had like a, I forgot what 00:12:31.009 --> 00:12:34.929 we called it, Guava Jam. And it was the different 00:12:34.929 --> 00:12:38.950 cultures of music coming together and playing 00:12:38.950 --> 00:12:42.889 a song together, but with their own musical traditions. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:45.700 So like all the artists jammed together on the 00:12:45.700 --> 00:12:47.919 stage. It was pretty cool. That's amazing. Wow. 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:50.080 I mean, it's really kind of pushing the boundaries 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:54.840 of like, of culture. And, and I think Miami is 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:56.600 good in that sense is that you actually have 00:12:56.600 --> 00:12:59.759 such a remarkable combination of people and it's 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:03.789 a massive. uh it was a big community yeah um 00:13:03.789 --> 00:13:06.009 and like you said they're representative from 00:13:06.009 --> 00:13:08.470 all across the jewish diaspora here all across 00:13:08.470 --> 00:13:10.789 the jewish diaspora and then and then it ends 00:13:10.789 --> 00:13:13.250 up having its own miami flavor exactly which 00:13:13.250 --> 00:13:16.129 is informed by all of these other cultures right 00:13:16.129 --> 00:13:21.570 exactly so that's very cool so um so so that 00:13:21.570 --> 00:13:23.789 gives you an idea that i'm you know that i was 00:13:23.789 --> 00:13:28.639 interested in in examining the Jewish community 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:33.759 and over the years showing the world that the 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:37.000 Jewish community is diverse and can be so many 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:41.399 other things and forming partnerships with other 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:45.240 communities which is what I've done in the arts 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:49.980 through different situations where either the 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:52.100 work that was when i was doing specifically jewish 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:55.179 work but you know i also spent two years actually 00:13:55.179 --> 00:13:58.899 um examining muslim culture and celebrating muslim 00:13:58.899 --> 00:14:00.600 culture through the arts at an arts organization 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:04.000 i was with and so i learned a lot about muslim 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.220 culture during that time one of the things i 00:14:06.220 --> 00:14:14.500 learned was um just uh I learned how accessible 00:14:14.500 --> 00:14:17.720 it was to me because of my own traditions. I 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:20.620 understand. So it was really interesting to understand 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:29.139 culturally rooted work based on, or culturally 00:14:29.139 --> 00:14:34.179 rooted ideas based on text, based on religious 00:14:34.179 --> 00:14:37.759 traditions. Based on, exactly. So that was really 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:41.940 cool. And I also spent some time, you know, we 00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:46.080 we were doing a few seasons looking at environmental 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:49.320 work. And so we were forming partnerships with 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:51.820 environmental organizations and learned a lot 00:14:51.820 --> 00:14:55.039 about that then. So so that's when I then I went 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:58.700 to be director of. community engagement. And 00:14:58.700 --> 00:15:01.379 I was really interested in, I was producing all 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:04.620 the cult, the community programs at the Arsh 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:07.700 Center. So the free programs, the Free Gospel 00:15:07.700 --> 00:15:10.200 Sundays, Family Fest, which was a program for 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:14.240 young families, and forming relationships with 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:15.899 all these different kinds of community groups. 00:15:16.340 --> 00:15:24.279 And then September 7th, October 7th happened. 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:37.299 And I felt this instinct to work Jewishly again. 00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:43.539 And so I was very, very lucky to find my current 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:47.919 job, which is community relations manager for 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:51.639 the... Jewish Community Relations Council of 00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:56.120 the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. So my work 00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:59.240 is about bringing all of those partnerships that 00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:01.440 I started forming around the community, plus 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:06.159 forming new ones, and really building bridges 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:10.679 between the Jewish community and other... other 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:12.500 communities. They're not only faith -based, they're 00:16:12.500 --> 00:16:15.039 also culturally and, and, and spiritual, not 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:17.799 spiritual, they're culturally and, and, and, 00:16:17.820 --> 00:16:23.120 and socially based. So it's great because I get 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:24.940 to work with the, so many of the same people 00:16:24.940 --> 00:16:28.679 and the same communities. But it's really about 00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:36.799 like, how do Jews and Muslims Live together, 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:39.779 work together, celebrate together, find our similarities 00:16:39.779 --> 00:16:43.259 and not just talk about our differences. I just 00:16:43.259 --> 00:16:45.679 launched a program that I'm really, really excited 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:53.159 about called Rekindle Miami. It is a program 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:56.179 that is about black Jewish relations. Right. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:01.029 And it is. For people in their 20s and 30s, it's 00:17:01.029 --> 00:17:02.870 a cohort. We had our first meeting this past 00:17:02.870 --> 00:17:07.890 Sunday, I guess almost a week ago. And it was 00:17:07.890 --> 00:17:09.730 great. It was like great to have everybody in 00:17:09.730 --> 00:17:13.369 the room. People were really, you know, it's 00:17:13.369 --> 00:17:16.569 facilitated and there are guidelines so that, 00:17:16.630 --> 00:17:19.630 you know, it's a safe space where everything 00:17:19.630 --> 00:17:25.220 that happens there stays there. We just had the 00:17:25.220 --> 00:17:26.819 first meeting where we sort of like talked about 00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:28.660 ourselves and talked about our identities and 00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:31.160 talked about assumptions and stereotypes that 00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:34.019 people make about us just based on how we look 00:17:34.019 --> 00:17:37.059 or whatever. But we're going to do some cool 00:17:37.059 --> 00:17:40.019 things like we're going to be, well, not so cool, 00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:42.299 but looking at, I mean, it's cool, but not cool 00:17:42.299 --> 00:17:44.900 to learn about anti -Semitism and racism and 00:17:44.900 --> 00:17:48.640 white supremacy. So I love the idea of Jews. 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:52.539 And people from the black community being in 00:17:52.539 --> 00:17:55.640 a room together and together hearing about racism 00:17:55.640 --> 00:17:57.619 and being able to talk about it and together 00:17:57.619 --> 00:18:00.220 being able to talk about anti -Semitism and together 00:18:00.220 --> 00:18:02.240 being able to talk about white supremacy, which 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:09.140 affects both of us. So I really love that it's 00:18:09.140 --> 00:18:15.099 a space for that dialogue to happen. I hope that 00:18:15.099 --> 00:18:17.819 what happens, it's six months long, and I hope 00:18:17.819 --> 00:18:20.339 that afterwards people remain friends and remain 00:18:20.339 --> 00:18:22.480 in each other's lives and remain doing things 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:26.880 together. That would be a real sign of success. 00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:32.480 That's amazing. You've had a very interesting 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:38.539 professional journey. And what do you think is 00:18:38.539 --> 00:18:44.000 one of the... I mean, what are some of the challenges 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.500 that you are going through now working with Federation? 00:18:47.700 --> 00:18:50.400 You talked a little bit about October 7th. How 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:54.460 does that complicate the situation in terms of 00:18:54.460 --> 00:18:57.160 the work that you're doing? That's a really great 00:18:57.160 --> 00:19:03.140 question and really real, really real. There's 00:19:03.140 --> 00:19:06.519 a lot of misinformation about October 7th and 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:09.799 there's a lot of misinformation about what's 00:19:09.799 --> 00:19:15.660 going on in Gaza. And it's created a lot of division. 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:19.660 And so I would say one of the hardest things 00:19:19.660 --> 00:19:25.460 is navigating those divisions and being the person 00:19:25.460 --> 00:19:28.380 that's about everybody being in the room together 00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:32.279 regardless of those divisions or creating, bringing 00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:36.759 people together over their divisions or beyond 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:49.150 their divisions. So there's a lot of, like yesterday 00:19:49.150 --> 00:19:55.349 I was talking to somebody about something with 00:19:55.349 --> 00:20:00.069 Gaza and like it became really clear that we 00:20:00.069 --> 00:20:04.829 had different information. I was going to say 00:20:04.829 --> 00:20:09.740 different stances, but. the stances are formed 00:20:09.740 --> 00:20:13.039 by the information we have. And so instead of 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:15.319 saying, okay, I can't talk to this person. We 00:20:15.319 --> 00:20:17.019 obviously feel really differently about this. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:19.859 I said, and we were at a party, so it wasn't 00:20:19.859 --> 00:20:22.759 the best place to talk. And I said, we're going 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:25.319 to have coffee and we're going to talk about 00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:27.140 this. And I'm going to tell you everything I 00:20:27.140 --> 00:20:28.359 know. And you're going to tell me everything, 00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:31.839 you know, and we're going to find how we can, 00:20:31.940 --> 00:20:37.890 um, work together and, um, move forward together. 00:20:38.250 --> 00:20:43.049 Because I think that's a goal. And it's not just 00:20:43.049 --> 00:20:45.849 outside of the Jewish community. That happened 00:20:45.849 --> 00:20:47.289 to be somebody outside of the Jewish community. 00:20:47.369 --> 00:20:49.829 That was somebody in the black community. So 00:20:49.829 --> 00:20:53.490 even in the Jewish community, there are people 00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:55.390 that lean left and there are people that lean 00:20:55.390 --> 00:21:03.369 right. And it's really important to say, okay, 00:21:03.549 --> 00:21:06.859 but here's the things that... we can agree on 00:21:06.859 --> 00:21:12.019 and here are the things that affect both of us 00:21:12.019 --> 00:21:17.380 and how are we being the best people we can be 00:21:17.380 --> 00:21:24.339 celebrating our culture the best we can i think 00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:29.279 that we all want that right so yeah no i mean 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:31.160 i think um i mean one of the things that i've 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:35.500 also seen um So we're starting a student dialogue 00:21:35.500 --> 00:21:41.000 group here at FIU. And I think one of the things 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.480 is that we also assume that people on the other 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:49.480 side are all kind of monolithic as well. And 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:51.400 there's actually a lot of diversity even among 00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:54.539 people that are different from us and to be able 00:21:54.539 --> 00:21:56.240 to engage. And there are people that are open, 00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:58.099 right? And so you have to figure out who those 00:21:58.099 --> 00:22:00.900 people are and engage with them. And I think, 00:22:00.900 --> 00:22:03.299 again, part of the way that you're able to change 00:22:03.299 --> 00:22:05.240 people's opinions is just engaging with them 00:22:05.240 --> 00:22:06.859 and talking to them. And I think that's exactly 00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:09.440 the work that we need to be doing. And it's not 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:11.279 just, I think, in terms of interfaith work, but 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:14.440 even, you know, we talked earlier about political 00:22:14.440 --> 00:22:16.539 polarization in the United States as well. That's 00:22:16.539 --> 00:22:18.880 a really big issue as well. So, you know, what 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:21.400 are your politics and then how do you self -select 00:22:21.400 --> 00:22:24.599 then instead of engaging with the other or with 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:25.839 someone who has different sort of perspectives? 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:30.539 Right. That, so actually. because you said this, 00:22:30.579 --> 00:22:32.019 I actually want to go back to something that 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:33.599 I said, which is I said, you know, in the Jewish 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:34.819 community, there's people on the left, there's 00:22:34.819 --> 00:22:37.059 people on the right. It's not that simple. It's 00:22:37.059 --> 00:22:40.579 not, it's not whatever the two version of monolithic, 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:45.619 it's not bi, bi -alithic. I just made up a word. 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:50.180 It's not binary. Hello, that's the word. So it's 00:22:50.180 --> 00:22:52.400 not left and right either. It's like this incredible 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:56.059 continuum with people in all different spaces. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:05.480 So, and I think that, I think that I hope and 00:23:05.480 --> 00:23:09.700 I wish that we all remember that it's a continuum 00:23:09.700 --> 00:23:12.779 and it's not black and white. It's not a binary 00:23:12.779 --> 00:23:18.119 and still can come together and and move forward 00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:25.000 with that. And I a lot of my work is with people 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:28.240 who in some ways on the binary, you think you'd 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:32.539 think. oh, that's totally not, you know, that's 00:23:32.539 --> 00:23:36.119 totally not something that a Jewish person could 00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:42.200 relate to or a progressive person. And I have 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:44.900 become really good friends with some very conservative 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:51.140 people. And it's outside of the Jewish community. 00:23:53.549 --> 00:23:57.490 And I think that what makes it work is that we 00:23:57.490 --> 00:24:00.589 have some values that we share and that's what 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:03.950 we can focus on. Right. And, and I think it's 00:24:03.950 --> 00:24:07.269 okay. It's okay to share some values and to not 00:24:07.269 --> 00:24:10.369 be like, I don't agree with this person and therefore 00:24:10.369 --> 00:24:13.710 I'm not going to engage with them in my life. 00:24:13.809 --> 00:24:16.009 Exactly. Right. I think it's the total opposite. 00:24:16.069 --> 00:24:19.609 I think it's like what you said. It's engaging. 00:24:19.849 --> 00:24:23.150 It's coming together. Finding your shared values, 00:24:23.470 --> 00:24:27.329 celebrating your shared values, because then 00:24:27.329 --> 00:24:31.930 you have. Then you've completely humanized the 00:24:31.930 --> 00:24:36.069 quote unquote other side. And and it's sort of 00:24:36.069 --> 00:24:40.650 when you've humanized it, it's less scary. It's 00:24:40.650 --> 00:24:46.549 like less giant, you know, and and maybe from 00:24:46.549 --> 00:24:52.220 there we can really have. conversations that 00:24:52.220 --> 00:24:55.119 affect change right yeah no i mean i agree and 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:56.500 i think one of the other things that's really 00:24:56.500 --> 00:25:01.259 powerful um not just values but also um sharing 00:25:01.259 --> 00:25:05.240 your life experiences um you know uh having children 00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:09.390 or you know, witnessing your family member die. 00:25:09.829 --> 00:25:11.569 They're very, very profound things that happen 00:25:11.569 --> 00:25:13.910 in our lives as humans that can be shared across 00:25:13.910 --> 00:25:16.549 and that, you know, it doesn't, you don't need 00:25:16.549 --> 00:25:18.869 ideology to be able to communicate empathy and 00:25:18.869 --> 00:25:21.549 sort of love and sadness and those sorts of things. 00:25:21.630 --> 00:25:24.130 And I think tapping into the emotional connection 00:25:24.130 --> 00:25:26.170 that we have with each other. So going beyond 00:25:26.170 --> 00:25:28.069 just the intellectual and like what I believe, 00:25:28.109 --> 00:25:30.450 but really what I feel, I think is a very powerful 00:25:30.450 --> 00:25:32.329 way of being able to do that, you know. Right. 00:25:32.390 --> 00:25:34.730 And I think being able to be there for each other 00:25:34.730 --> 00:25:37.589 through all of those profound life events. Yeah. 00:25:38.769 --> 00:25:42.509 Yeah, no, absolutely. You're able to really then 00:25:42.509 --> 00:25:44.710 those are the friendships that, you know, endure 00:25:44.710 --> 00:25:47.470 for life. Yeah. If you're with someone when they're 00:25:47.470 --> 00:25:51.430 at their worst moment, they'll be with you forever, 00:25:51.569 --> 00:25:55.970 you know. So it's very powerful. So we have a 00:25:55.970 --> 00:26:01.369 lot of students here at FIU and they. are not 00:26:01.369 --> 00:26:03.470 sure what they want to do with their life. So 00:26:03.470 --> 00:26:06.410 what is some wisdom that you can give them based 00:26:06.410 --> 00:26:08.470 on your life experience, diverse set of life 00:26:08.470 --> 00:26:10.390 experiences, the communities that you engage 00:26:10.390 --> 00:26:13.609 with, the work that you do as an artist and as 00:26:13.609 --> 00:26:18.450 a creative? What would you tell students who 00:26:18.450 --> 00:26:20.309 are kind of like figuring out what they want 00:26:20.309 --> 00:26:26.349 to do with their lives? Wow, that's a huge moment 00:26:26.349 --> 00:26:31.559 in somebody's life. I would say, the most important 00:26:31.559 --> 00:26:36.920 thing is to love what you do or do what you love. 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:42.019 So if there's something that you love doing, 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:46.660 figure out how to do that professionally. If 00:26:46.660 --> 00:26:50.660 it feels like, oh, but that's so easy. I shouldn't 00:26:50.660 --> 00:26:52.420 be doing that professionally. I need to do something 00:26:52.420 --> 00:26:55.339 that challenges me or is hard. The truth is that 00:26:55.339 --> 00:26:58.059 thing that comes easy to you is probably not 00:26:58.059 --> 00:27:00.640 easy to somebody else. And the fact that it's 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:02.960 easy to you is a message that that's what you 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:05.400 should be doing. Excellent advice. No, that's 00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:08.799 absolutely correct. Yeah. One of the owners of 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:12.400 Ben and Jerry's has a quote that's something 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:16.880 like, if it's not fun, why do it? And I always 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:20.430 think about that. I mean, you seem to very much 00:27:20.430 --> 00:27:22.769 enjoy the work that you do. I do very much enjoy 00:27:22.769 --> 00:27:26.990 the work that I do. And it gives me energy, which 00:27:26.990 --> 00:27:29.029 is a really important thing, too. It's like you 00:27:29.029 --> 00:27:31.369 have to be passionate about your work because 00:27:31.369 --> 00:27:36.029 you need it to fuel you. You need to go to bed 00:27:36.029 --> 00:27:38.230 every night thinking, I can't wait to get back 00:27:38.230 --> 00:27:41.809 to work tomorrow and dive into this. You know, 00:27:41.809 --> 00:27:44.390 or make that call even like, oh, I can't wait 00:27:44.390 --> 00:27:47.029 to talk to that person or I can't wait to solve 00:27:47.029 --> 00:27:49.750 this problem. All right. You know, I think it's 00:27:49.750 --> 00:27:53.490 really true. So you talk to the community. What 00:27:53.490 --> 00:27:55.690 advice would you have or what is your vision 00:27:55.690 --> 00:27:58.670 for? I mean, you're kind of the director of community 00:27:58.670 --> 00:28:02.069 engagement for the Federation. I mean, what is 00:28:02.069 --> 00:28:05.569 what would you like to see in terms of community 00:28:05.569 --> 00:28:09.680 engagement in Miami? Where are we lacking and 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:15.339 what would you like to see more of? I would like 00:28:15.339 --> 00:28:23.380 to see more sort of crossing of the aisle. More 00:28:23.380 --> 00:28:30.640 risk -taking in engaging somebody that you think 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:36.220 you don't agree with or you think you are at. 00:28:37.930 --> 00:28:47.190 odds with um i would like to see more miami is 00:28:47.190 --> 00:28:52.269 an incredibly diverse community and um and i 00:28:52.269 --> 00:28:54.549 actually think that's really beautiful that every 00:28:54.549 --> 00:28:57.589 that you know that there are differences in communities 00:28:57.589 --> 00:28:59.390 that have their own cultures their own communities 00:28:59.390 --> 00:29:01.250 their own neighborhoods and you know i think 00:29:01.250 --> 00:29:05.740 that's great um but i also think that um We need 00:29:05.740 --> 00:29:11.900 to take each other along through it. And I also 00:29:11.900 --> 00:29:14.059 think that all of our problems will be solved 00:29:14.059 --> 00:29:24.380 if... Oh, sorry. What I think you said earlier, 00:29:24.599 --> 00:29:28.220 or what we were talking about earlier, which 00:29:28.220 --> 00:29:31.019 is that when you come together and you find out 00:29:31.019 --> 00:29:33.539 the things you have in common, you can move forward 00:29:33.539 --> 00:29:36.900 to... accept the things you don't have in common 00:29:36.900 --> 00:29:42.000 and understand what it's about right um when 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:46.700 when you have a place for friendship um you can 00:29:46.700 --> 00:29:49.940 talk about the hard stuff absolutely all right 00:29:49.940 --> 00:29:53.000 wonderful um any last message you would like 00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:55.410 to Nope. So, okay. All right. Well, wonderful. 00:29:55.710 --> 00:29:58.750 Thank you so much, Jenny, for your time. We're 00:29:58.750 --> 00:30:01.049 really sort of honored to have you and to have 00:30:01.049 --> 00:30:04.490 your story and your work put out there as an 00:30:04.490 --> 00:30:06.309 inspiration for our students. So thank you. Great. 00:30:06.430 --> 00:30:10.250 And I love students. I'll have you maybe give 00:30:10.250 --> 00:30:12.630 a class lecture one day. I would love to give 00:30:12.630 --> 00:30:14.829 a class lecture. When I worked at MDC, I did 00:30:14.829 --> 00:30:17.609 it all the time. Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you 00:30:17.609 --> 00:30:19.609 for coming out here. Really appreciate it. Thank 00:30:19.609 --> 00:30:22.630 you. I hope you enjoyed it. I did. Thank you.